Foreign Workers Told To Discard Fear, Join Unions

Malaysian
Trades Union Congress (MTUC) secretary-general G. Rajasekaran said migrant workers
would be heard more if they voice their problems through unions.
<P>&quot;The
Labour Act does not prohibit migrant workers from joining any union in the country,&quot;
he said when met by reporters here after a forum on Malaysian Labour Laws attended
by more than 50 migrant workers, held to commemorate the International Migrant
Workers’ Day tomorrow.</P><P>He said many migrant workers had not joined any of
the 400 unions in the country for fear that they might be sacked by their employers
on the grounds that they have violated their work permit.</P><P>Rajasekaran explained
that the government prohibited migrant workers from joining any association, saying
that they would have their permit cancelled.</P><P>&quot;Some employers mislead
migrants workers by saying that unions and associations are actually the same
thing whereas they are not. Many employers use this to continue to exploit the
workers and gain profit,&quot; he said.</P><P>He acknowledged that some employers
had also used gangsters to threaten migrant workers from joining any union.</P><P>Rajasekaran
said some migrant workers in Malaysia were being ill-treated by their employers,
such as by giving them a heavy workload or underpaying them, and they were also
cheated by the recruitment agents.</P><P>MTUC sees a lack of enforcement as having
contributed to the rampant mistreatment of the workers and the &quot;Labour Department
admitted insufficient manpower hampered it from carrying out the enforcement&quot;.</P><P>Timber
Employees Union of Peninsular Malaysia (TEUPM) secretary-general Mohd Khalid Atan
said migrant workers had to go to the proper channels to voice their problems.</P><P>&quot;We
are trying to create some awareness among migrant workers that there are people
in this country whom they can seek for help. However, most of the time we face
communication problems with the migrant workers,&quot; he said.</P><P>He said
directory guidebooks on how to act against mistreatment and whom to contact would
be distributed among the migrant workers in their respective language.</P><P>The
effort was started with the Bangladeshi workers this year and would be followed
with other foreign workers.</P><P>&quot;We are also creating networking with unions
in their country of origin as a step to give more awareness to the potential workers
and to prevent cheating by recruitment agents,&quot; he said. — BERNAMA